It’s one of football’s unwritten rules that players score against their former clubs and there’s a couple of old boys on both sides who will be doubly keen to impress against their one-time employers in Middlesbrough’s tricky-looking trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The £15m man could receive a hot reception on his return to the City Ground, with Forest legend Garry Birtles questioning this week whether he will be warmly welcomed by the fans who used to cheer him.

And no doubt the Forest players who used to call Assombalonga a teammate will be all the keener to try and keep him under wraps.

But much-changed Boro are showing signs of getting it together as an attacking force with their new more adventurous approach under Garry Monk.

The two goals they scored through Assombalonga against an admittedly poor Burton could quite easily have been six on chances created.

Add in the fact that Forest have scored in all four of their games so far and they have an attacker of their own in former Boro winger Mustapha Carayol who will be extra motivated to shine and we should see Over 2.5 goals in a Boro game for the first time this season.

The flip side of the argument is that Boro have only conceded once in their first three Championship encounters, and that was only down to a Daniel Ayala clanger in their opening day defeat at Wolves.

Sheffield United and Burton both enjoyed spells of pressure at the Riverside, but a late disallowed Blades goal was the closest either side came to scoring and Boro goalkeeper Darren Randolph has only had one meaningful save to make in the last 180 minutes.

Scoring four in a win at Brentford isn’t to be sniffed at, and boss Mark Warburton was pleased with their display on Tuesday even though their 100% start came to an end in a 2-1 defeat at Barnsley.

Summer signings Andreas Bouchalakis, Kieran Dowell, Barrie McKay and Daryl Murphy are all off the mark as well, as is former Boro wideman Carayol who scored a penalty in the EFL Cup win over Shrewsbury.

Murphy has scored in two of Forest’s first three league games following his July arrival from Newcastle as a replacement for Assombalonga, although he still waiting for his first goal at the City Ground.

Most tellingly, the Republic of Ireland striker has form against Boro having scored three times against them while at Ipswich.